


behind these shattered masks of glass

by ghostkids



Series: code:red [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Attempted Forced Identity Reveal, Autistic Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Autistic Kagami Tsurugi, Autistic Luka Couffaine, Autistic Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Blood, Cat Kagami Tsurugi, Cat Luka Couffaine, Cat Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Black Chat, Disabled Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Everyone Loves Chat Noir, Everyone Loves Ladybug, Except For Those People Apparently, F/F, F/M, Forced Identity Reveal, Good Parents Sabine Cheng & Tom Dupain, Graphic Descriptions of Injuries, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Ladybug Adrien Agreste | Mister Bug, Ladybug Kagami Tsurugi, Ladybug Lila Rossi, Ladybug Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Has Grey Eyes, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Uses They/Them Pronouns, Misgendering, Mouse Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Multimouse, Mullo Is Exhausted, Multi, Nonbinary Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Secret Identities, Social Media, Tikki Is So Done, Tikki Is Tired, Torture, Trauma, five seconds, for like - Freeform, injuries, until mari Takes Her Down
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:34:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24158941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostkids/pseuds/ghostkids
Summary: ladybug is captured. tortured. all to reveal their identity. it doesn't work, but they are left to pay the price.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Mullo, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tikki, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi
Series: code:red [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743496
Comments: 1
Kudos: 57





	behind these shattered masks of glass

**Author's Note:**

> hello everybody! this is the new, (hopefully) improved version of 'behind scarred masks'. i've made some changes, though some events will be remaining the same. i hope you enjoy this new version. i hope to have chapter one out within the next couple of days, though of course i will have to see how that works out. a good portion is written already, though.

everything is going wrong. all claire wants is a pastry. instead, she misses her bus and somehow ends up in the opposite direction of her favorite bakery. she's going to be late getting back; august will wonder where she is, and paul will worry. she gets off the bus in an attempt to go back the way she came, but now, it's starting to rain. not a lot, just a drizzle really, but she hates rain and she hates getting wet. and she has to walk, because she doesn't trust herself to go the right direction if she gets back on the bus. not with how her luck is going.

now she's walking through the back streets of paris, vaguely lost and definitely damp, and all she wants is to go home. she thinks she might know where she's going, but that thought goes out the window as she walks past a side street and hears a voice she definitely doesn't expect to hear.

(“i found you, i finally found you,” the voice says.)

she almost walks past at first. the words are completely ordinary, but something in the tone makes her hesitate, freeze with one foot halfway to the ground. the voice keeps talking.

as the voice says “ladybug,” and another voice says, “i have no idea what you’re talking about,” the woman turns back. that second voice sounds just this side of terrified and she can’t leave someone to feel that scared, even if they can potentially handle it on their own.

she takes one look and her heart sinks down into her stomach, cold.

small teenager, dark black hair, backed up against the wall. woman with a camera and a scowl towering over them, pushing them back through sheer force of will. they're clutching a box in their arms, t&s boulangerie patisserie, so tight the thin cardboard buckles under their grip.

“i saw you transform. drop the act and do it again for the camera like a good little girl,” the reporter says, aiming the camera at the teen. "you know what i want. you know-"

“i already said,” they spit, glaring. their expression is all ladybug. the woman’s breath catches. she's not convinced that this teenager isn't ladybug, now, but they're maskless, backed up against a wall with no way out. “i don’t know what you’re talking about. leave me alone.”

the woman continues speaking, unruffled by the interruption. "you know what i want you to do."

she's seen enough. claire steps forward before she even knows what she's doing. "hey! stop!" she yells, holding her hands up in some loose approximation of what she learned in martial arts last week. she rushes around the corner, completely prepared to fight her way through if she has to. if she can cause chaos, enough of a distraction ...

the woman turns to glare at her, brow furrowing in annoyance, hand clenching at her side. the teen's expression, grey eyes wide and scared, will stay with claire for the rest of her life.

she doesn’t see the glint of silver until too late, only feels something cool-cold, the rush of air at her side, dull pain blooming abruptly from her ribcage. her world goes foggy, everything far away as she falls to her knees. she doesn't register why until the second woman brings the knife back, shiny-slick with bright blood, and she realizes the blood is hers.

the teen that might be ladybug screams and yelps something that could have been "tikki, transf-!" but the words are cut off as the reporter claps a hand over their mouth. "oh no you don't!" she says. "not like that, you aren't."

as the second woman brings the knife to the teenager's throat, the box falls to the ground. cake splatters over the pavement. pink confetti splashes against the second woman's jeans; she flicks the icing off with a grimace, then turns to the third and fourth members of the group.

"get a move on!" she snaps. "we're losing time!"

the teenager's eyes are wide and bright behind the hand. they dig in their heels and drop their weight, resisting as much as they can when their entire body is restrained, panic in their eyes. but they're losing, fast.

she has to help. they're just a child, like she was so long ago. claire tries to get up. but her legs won't work, and the woman is dragging the teen backward, and claire's vision is growing dark.

(all she wanted was a pastry.)


End file.
